Date: 10/16/25 7:59 am From: Carl Lundblad <carl.lundblad...> Subject: Storm fallout at Pyramid Lake and NW Nevada including Black-and-White Warbler/Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Monday through Wednesday saw significant fallouts of late fall migrants moving through northwest Nevada, coinciding with the approach, arrival, and aftermath of an early winter storm. I first noted a large presence of common (Audubon's, Myrtle, Orange-crowned) warblers moving through my south Reno neighborhood on Monday morning. Fifty minutes spent birding at Rancho San Rafael (Reno) produced 40+ Yellow-rumps and 10+ Orange-crowned, that afternoon. I ran out to Porter Springs, in Pershing County, and found it enjoyable but not extraordinary, with the best bird being a PACIfiC WREN both Monday night and Tuesday morning. An American Coot on the stock pond was my 130th species for this site and one you don't often catch at migrant traps.
After leaving Porter Springs, I birded Rye Patch Dam, where the highlight was a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW in the day use area east of the river and below the dam. Proceeding to Churchill County, ~500 Barn Swallows were at S-Line Reservoir in Fallon. The Carson River Diversion Dam, west of Fallon, was better for migrant volume than diversity, with 200-300 Yellow-rumped Warblers (oddly, I noted only Audubon's and no Myrtles) and generally small numbers of other migrants.
On Wednesday, I birded the Pyramid Lake area beginning with mostly looking at waterbirds from my vehicle in the lingering rain band. Around late morning I headed up to Bonham Ranch, on the Smoke Creek Desert, where I found an adult male YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, 20-25 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and one each Wilson's and Townsend's Warblers. Along the way, I found many random migrants in open desert including a flock of ~100 Audubon's Warblers, several groups of Mountain Bluebirds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets in shadscale habitat, and a single small tamarisk containing up to 10 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and 2-3 Orange-crowned Warblers.
I returned to Pyramid Lake Wednesday afternoon and birded "The Willows" which produced probably the most significant migrant fallout I've experienced in northern Nevada. Ruby-crowned Kinglets (and one Golden-crowned Kinglet) were dripping from nearly every tree and all over the ground, and the best conservative estimate I could come up with for eBird was 250, although that's probably conservative. There were also dozens of warblers highlighted by a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER plus 40-50, each, Yellow-rumped (at least two Myrtles) and Orange-crowned, 5-6 Townsend's, 2+ Yellows, dozens of White-crowned Sparrows, a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and a late Hammond's Flycatcher.
I checked some more patches in the Pyramid area and continued to find large numbers of migrant landbirds dominated by Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers but including more late Yellow, Wilson's, Townsend's Warblers and a late Warbling Vireo at Sutcliffe. Waterbirding Pyramid was pretty much a bust and quickly eclipsed by the huge numbers of landbird migrants to sort through.
